This is horrible news. The USCSB does incredible work.
U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
191–200 of 257 posts
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
Altruism is very real thing, with very real examples of behavior influenced by altruism. Moreover it altruism is not just something that people do, because they are culturally programmed to believe, that altruism exists. Examples of altruistic behavior are known for many species, including those, that cannot pass complex concepts from one generation to the next by telling fairy tales to their offspring. Economics ten…
> Don't you think that economics biased you toward egoism? Yes. Economists and critics often do not recognize intangible rewards and incentives. > Altruism is very real thing, with very real examples of behavior influenced by altruism. Now do second order reasoning. I didn’t say nobody ever does anything for anybody else. I said organizations do not generally act and support information which is not in their interest…
Minor nit - the word "generally" was not in "I don’t know any group who intentionally acts against their interests" which makes it a weaker (and more easily defended) claim than your original.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#193I think we will soon have to confront serious, real world proof that an unregulated free market is not ultimately self-regulating. Control systems without upper bounds (e.g. shareholder value / profit maximization ) are prone to feedback loops and oscillations. And an oscillating system cannot be judged in its entirety during an upward cycle alone (20th century). Going one level of abstraction higher: there is no evi…
Laws and regulations are part of the free market system. I thought we've known since well before the 1952 Cuyahoga River fire that sparked the formation of the EPA. Although TBF, there's never been a lot of demand for literal burning rivers.
I'm pretty sure we've actually known this since time immemorial. Property, contract, etc. are all legal constructs. Talking about free markets (or whatever approximation to "free" is meant by that) without laws and regulations doesn't make any sense.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#194Chesterton's Fence moment
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
"China has been the exception that authoritarian states collapse quickly." Why? Because if you check the CVs of most of Politburo members they have degrees in science and engineering. QED!
And what's stopping the American people from voting smart people with engineering degrees to power instead of lying loud mouth conmen? Maybe because modern American mainstream culture has people worshiping the "clever" conman who got rich quick by gaming the system and scamming others, as opposed to hard working nerd who put in the long time and effort for an honest enrichment. Democratic societies get the leaders th…
As a U.S. citizen, I tend to think of our system of government as only loosely democratic. There are many, many dials and knobs that prevent voters from having too much impact on policy. The Electoral college means losers of the popular vote have been president several times. The Senate is quite unrepresentative, Wyoming (pop. 587k) and California (pop. 39,431k) have the same number of votes. The House is gerrymandered quite heavily, the two-party system has an immense amount of control over which candidates (and policies) are viable, and our campaign finance system ensures both parties pander to donors.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#196I think this is pretty consistent with the old school 1950s views of the current administration. Companies can prioritize profits over people again. Yeah, dump in the rivers, dump in the woods, just drive around in circles dumping in an empty lot. You don’t need masks- give everyone cancer and blow some shit up, maybe get some acid burns. Super-fund sites? When was the last one we had anyway- we need more of ‘em- lot…
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I don't believe the actions being taken are really conducive to manufacturing greatness, or indeed technological greatness in any sense. I'd lump elimination of this board with elimination of obscure aviation safety committees normal people would never know about: actions that don't bear scrutiny at face value.
i.e. perhaps the whole point is that breaking these things will do damage and lower the status and functionality of the United States, making it actively worse by a considerable amount and sabotaging key structural parts normal people wouldn't even know were there.
In short, it's possible that it being bad is the point.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#197Politics is complicated and often has competing goals, but this seems at odds with the equally loud MAHA movement.
Only if you assume the respective movements can be taken at face value. If this and MAHA are actually for the purpose of destroying functional things, in the manner that missile strikes are for destroying functional things, then none of this is at odds with anything else: the purpose is just more aligned with the result than with the claimed intentions.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#198Waiting for when smoking is allowed on planes again...
Oh, required, surely.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#199You have to check out their incredible safety investigation videos on youtube. I don't know how well-organized or efficient they are but clearly their role needs to be played by someone - and as a taxpayer I appreciate that they are doing it in a way that educates and informs.
They just put out an ad for themselves: https://youtu.be/2z7h5BOZ2Hk?si=n539-vOz-NhtDncT Pretty good value proposition.
> ?si=n539-vOz-NhtDncT
Meta: the si parameter is a form of tracking, as is pp. Considering trimming them from any copy-paste if you can.
Re: U.S. Chemical Safety Board could be eliminated
#200Much more cutting is required to balance the budget.
But there's always money for a war.